Why Does This Keep Happening?
by MyNameIsJeffNImLost
Summary: Some time has passed since the two days Beckett wished never happened, but the confusing and frustrating suspects keep coming. Part 4 of 'This Happened' series. Post-Castle 4x05, Pre-Chuck 5x01.
1. I Never Meant for This to Happen

_Obligatory quotes: _"Men, and women of action and adventure... Under the radar... Above the law... Oh man, this is gonna be so much fun!" – Morgan Grimes in "Chuck vs. the Cliffhanger", 4.24.

"I'll be your backup. Besides, going rogue is kind of my specialty." – Richard Castle in _Castle_, "To Love and Die in LA", 3.22.

_Summary:_ 4th story in the _This Never Happened_ series. Some time has passed since the two days Beckett wished never happened, but the confusing suspects keep coming. Castle/Chuck xover.

_Timeline: _This three chapter story is set shortly before "Chuck vs. the Zoom", 5.01, and after _Castle_, "Eye of the Beholder", 4.05. The first chapter is very _Castle_-centric and can be read as a Romance/littleAngst Caskett one-shot. The crossover is more prevalent in the other two chapters.

_Series: _This series has alternated between Castle/Stargate and Castle/Chuck crossovers. The Stargate crossovers don't have to be read to understand this story. While this story can be read stand alone, it wouldn't hurt to read _I Wish This Never Happened._ Despite this story being Castle/Chuck, it is completely unrelated to _Castle vs the Law of Averages_.

_Quick summary of the first three stories: _Last spring between murders, tragic deaths, and near fatal shootings, Beckett and Castle had a couple of very memorable days. It started with a murder and a young (as in early 20s) _retired_ Air Force Colonel. It continued with a second colonel, this one beautiful and blonde, coming to his rescue. It ended the next day with martial law being declared in several blocks of Manhattan. The case involved the President, a shadowy organization called Home_world_ security, high tech weapons and power sources, invisible sheds, a hunt for a mutant squirrel, and possibly clones.

In between, Kate and Rick fell into a series of non-dates. Coming back from one of these non-dates, they arrested a man, Lester Patel, who they witnessed beating another to death. As it turns out, the victim, Jeffrey Barnes, only had couch lock and made a full recovery. A second misunderstanding almost led to a kidnapping charge, but that was cleared up by the two men's co-workers from the Buy More. These coworkers somehow were involved with the CIA and happened to be in New York, shutting down a gun and drug smuggling operation. Castle and Beckett only talked to these agents on the phone, but were given enough assurances to let Patel and Barnes free. Considering the far more profound case which bookended this one and considering the multiple non-dates over the two days, their brief arrest of the little Canadian Hinjew and his phone-a-friend benefactors were largely forgotten.

_Disclaimer_: Nobody else owns anything here, so why would I?

_Disclaimer 2_: Self-beta'd. Why would I sucker/obligate/subject anyone into reading this when they didn't want to? However, if you send me corrections, I'll fix them.

_Published: 12 Dec 2011_

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**Chapter 1 - I Never Meant for This to Happen**

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Kate Beckett fell backwards onto her bed and groaned. She wondered in frustration exactly how she ended up here.

The convenient excuse was it was all Madison's fault. Yes. That worked. She stopped by the station this afternoon to invite Kate to the opening for her new restaurant at some fancy hotel. Kate thought it sounded like fun, but she would be going alone. Madison said that was perfect. She immediately walked over to Rick and asked him to go with Kate. It was probably the most embarrassed Kate had been since Madison talked about little Castle babies in the interrogation room a year and a half ago. It was the kind of embarrassment only a long-time friend can cause.

Maddie was lucky there were so many witnesses at the precinct. Otherwise, Kate might have pulled out her service weapon and shot her so-called 'friend' dead. Or maybe she would have just wounded her. Come to think of it, _most_ of the people at the precinct would cover for her once she explained how it was justified. Captain Gates was the only reason Kate's high school friend was still breathing.

It lieu of justified homicide, Kate was going to have to find another way to get even. But that was a problem for another time. None of this musing helped with her immediate problem. What was she supposed to wear?

She wanted to look good for Castle, but not too good. This was _not_ a date. A couple of her dresses had low cut fronts that would show her bullet wound. She didn't want to spend the night with sympathetic looks from her dinner companion who was checking out her chest. Those dresses would only be safe after they started sleeping together. _Wait. _If they started… _No_. When they… _Ahh! Nevermind._

The skirt of the black dress she wore undercover to the club was too short for a dinner with just a friend. A couple of her other dresses had the same problem. The go-go and flapper dresses were out. So was the beautiful silver sequin dress. It was too formal and had the same problem as the violet silk one- no back.

That left the green one. She was saving it for Kevin and Jenny's wedding in a few months. She guessed she could wear it again, as long as she stayed off Page Six tonight. It was a restaurant opening, but there wasn't a red carpet or anything. Tonight was more about the food critics than the celebrity appearances. Castle was the only "famous" person invited, and he wasn't a big enough draw at a simple restaurant opening to rate a photographer.

The emerald green dress with black trim fell safely below the knee and had high necklines in both front and back. It was safe.

Decision made, Kate looked at her dad's watch sitting on her dresser. She had just enough time for her hair. She was going to wear it up, with a few strategic strands hanging down in front. With the dress's high neck line, there was no need to hide all of her neck. And she fully expected a lot of nervous hair twirling tonight.

Rick arrived at her door a couple minutes early (of course). She had let him win that argument earlier in the day, giving up on the idea of meeting him at the restaurant. She let him win so he would stop making loud, suggestive comments about meeting her at a hotel. It wasn't that big of deal, except by driving herself, she would have had an excuse not to drink too much at dinner. She was nervous enough about what might happen without adding a lot of alcohol into the mix. Using his car service really wasn't helping with Kate's plan to keep this evening as another safe non-date. At least he had enough sense not to bring flowers.

With Rick waiting just inside her door, she went to get her small purse with her badge and phone and her gun. Her shooter had still not been found, so she always carried a gun when she left her home, even off duty. Rick understood the reasons, so he didn't even make a suggestive comment about where she would be hiding it.

On the way to the restaurant, they talked about the day's case. They had booked the suspect around two. Rick left early so he could see Alexis for a couple hours before she went out with friends on Friday night. He was curious about what the ADA had said about prosecution's chances. They didn't have a confession, but the case was solid. There was a chance the ADA would have to call Rick to the stand on this one. With Rick's flair for storytelling, that was something he always loved, but this ADA didn't. She preferred more reserved witnesses.

Fortunately, their work gave them a safe topic of conversation and safely steered them from anything about how this all felt like a real date.

When they arrived at the hotel, Rick helped her out of the town car. After she stood, his left hand immediately went to her lower back. The shiver that went up Kate's spine reinforced that a dress with no back would have been a _really_ bad idea. Skin to skin contact would have ended her right then and there as a puddle on the sidewalk.

Rick gently guided her to Madison's new restaurant inside: Minerva's. Italian food. With a reservation placed by the restaurant manager, they were seated immediately. One of the reasons Maddie had been spared earlier today was because this non-date setup was technically only strike one. (The interrogation room embarrassment was balanced out by Kate actually interrogating her as a murder suspect.) However, their table tucked in a quiet corner that could easily be described as the most romantic spot in entire restaurant. The lighting was dim. The greens that scaled the false trellis were beautiful. The volume of the live background music was quiet and not overbearing. The small booth put them on adjacent sides of a table where their knees might lightly touch.

Strike two, Maddie.

Rick perused the wine list with a single instruction from Kate. It had to be a bottle that regular people could afford. She trusted him to know the good but reasonably priced stuff. He usually put that kind where Martha would easily find it so she wouldn't hunt for the good stuff.

Kate had been on a dozen or so non-dates with Castle last spring. She even was tricked into inviting Castle to a movie in what later could only be called a date according to most reasonable definitions. She thought she was simply introducing a friend to a classic movie. Thirty minutes in, she noticed him mouthing lines and realized he had conned her. She didn't call him on it though. It was better if he thought that she thought it was just another non-date. That non-date distinction and his respect for her relationship with Josh (sometimes more respect than she had for it), were probably the only things that prevented a good night kiss that evening. Or a good night make out session.

Then LA happened. Then what almost happened in LA, almost happened.

She had missed Castle terribly over the summer. When she returned, she told him she had needed to stay away from the case for a while. The truth was she also needed to stay away from him. After almost dying in the cemetery… After hearing those wonderful words…

She wasn't ready. She needed to be ready before they started anything. If they started before she was ready, the hopes she had for their relationship would be ruined. Someday her mom's case would come back. She'd put on blinders and ruin any relationship they had. It was inevitable. It was a booby trapped bomb waiting to go off. She did not want it ruined with Rick, but that would truly destroy her. They could survive the bomb as partners. They wouldn't survive it as lovers.

So the best thing to do was to stall.

Her story about the wall around her heart was true. Who doesn't have a wall around their hearts? People choose who they let past that wall and when they share parts of it with others. It's part of being human.

The big lie wasn't about forgetting what had happened at the cemetery. It wasn't that she remembered those wonderful words. Those words gave her something for which to fight. Those words saved her life. Pretending she didn't remember was a little lie. Her therapist even knew about that one.

The big lie was Rick was already behind her wall. He fought his way through her defenses and tunneled through her walls a long time ago. His books gave him a special key before they even met. Every day he showed up, more and more of him got in through a secret passage only he knew about. Eventually the wall closed up behind him. Now there was no chance of him getting out. When she was frustrated, she regularly threw him in a closet, but he was still trapped behind the wall with her. They would only have a healthy and lasting relationship if they could tear down her wall together… from the inside.

Solving her mother's case would be the best way to force that wall to crumble. Until then, she was going to try to build the strongest friendship possible with Castle to serve as a stable base for their future she hoped they'd have together. She only hoped he did not get impatient and either rush her or give up on her.

Most of the time, Kate wasn't worried about the fallout from her little and big lies. Believing the big lie was entirely his fault. For a writer who regularly calls her extraordinary, he should know better than to fall for the wall cliché. The little lie would be quickly forgiven when she repeated the wonderful words, followed by "too." She knew at that point he would be too shocked to care.

This fall, Rick and she had fallen back into their great partnership. They had solved a few cases and had fun doing so. Between them, it was different. She couldn't put her finger on exactly how it was different. It wasn't worse than before. Just different. He wasn't annoying her as much. She didn't know if it was because of how he was behaving or if she had just grown used to it. She wasn't harassing him as much. That was probably because she felt a little guilty about how she treated him over the summer and didn't want to punish him more. He seemed to have forgiven her for that, fortunately. So now, she was just enjoying being with her partner again. They were comfortable.

They had even gone on a couple of non-dates as friends. Kate figured if she was the one asking, if it was nothing fancy, and if she had a reasonable excuse, she could maintain control. Buying a burger or a beer as a "reimbursement" for helping solve a case was perfectly safe. Everything was going so well.

When Kate came up with this plan, she didn't expect it to last this long. She was determined to solve the case once and for all. She wasn't expecting a captain who lets snipers get away with shooting detectives at a police funeral. She really wasn't expecting Rick's impassioned plea for her to back off of the case for a while.

While his reasoning was sound, she wondered if he would be saying that if he knew her plans for him. For them. Waiting on the case meant postponing them.

The waiter interrupted her introspection by filling her wine glass. Kate blushed slightly at the small smile Rick was aiming her direction. She had been caught daydreaming about the possibility of them. She just hoped he didn't know it.

Rick ordered the fried zucchini as an appetizer. Kate was pleased he knew what she liked.

Back in the present, Kate lowered her black wrap from over her shoulders and carefully folded it on top of her small handbag in the corner. She looked back up at Rick, and this time she was the one who caught him with the bulging eyes. While her dress had the high necklines, it was also sleeveless.

Kate rolled her lips inward to hide her smile, thrilled she could so easily get this kind of reaction out of him.

On the job she was still in charge, but she had been going easier on him by putting up with more of his antics. To be honest, it wasn't that hard. She was enjoying being his partner too much to harass him. Instead she was flirting just enough to hint that she wanted him as more than just a partner.

Some people might think she was being cruel by leading him on, especially knowing how he felt. Kate figured he had earned the right to ogle her a little. She was simply prompting him when it was ok to do so.

Also, considering what she also felt, it was just as cruel to herself. A large part of her was ready to dive in now. That part wanted to grab his black tie near the collar of his tailored, charcoal button-down and pull his lips to hers, making a very public display in this restaurant. She was forcing herself to wait so they could have a chance to last-so they could both enjoy the type of relationship she hoped they would have.

It would devastate her, but she wasn't going to stop him from seeing somebody else. She was determined not to act like a domineering girlfriend. Despite the scare with Serena, it seemed to be working. In fact, she didn't know of him seeing anyone since Gina. He seemed to be waiting for her. That thought made her smile.

She knew she was walking a very fine line. She wanted to keep him interested. She wanted to give him hope. But she needed him to be patient. She needed him to believe they were worth waiting for. All without being cruel.

In the past few weeks, she realized her issues were not the only ones they would be facing. Rick had dropped a few comments about domineering wives and the horror of marriage. At first, she thought it was an act to tease and scare Kevin. Recently, she was starting to think there was some truth to it, that his past marriages hurt him more than he let on. If so, it was a large obstacle they would fight through together, just like her mom's case.

Another concern was Kate had not heard from Alexis since the shooting. She fully expected to hear from her about Stanford, considering Kate started school there, but that never happened. Something was going on with Rick's daughter. Maybe it was the rejection from Stanford. (Since when did that accept applications for January admissions?) Maybe she was worried that her father would be hurt or killed helping on the job. (He might, but not if she could prevent it.) Maybe she thought Kate was playing with his feelings. (In a way, she was, but in their best interests.) Alexis was so important to Rick, Kate was going to have to find a way to win back her trust, whatever the problem was.

Also, occasionally she felt like Rick was hiding something. She knew it was a little hypocritical, but her own secrets were intended to help them both as a couple in the long run. His were something different. So far it was just an instinct, with no foundation. She was already too emotionally invested for something like this to stop them. She hoped he trusted her enough to let her know before it was too late.

In the meantime, Kate and Rick could continue to develop their friendship. When Kate had told him she wanted a certain type of relationship, that was part of it. Rick might already be her best friend, but that was only because she didn't have really close friends. In fact, all of her friends were work friends. She only hung out with Javi and Kevin as teammates and a sort of family. Lanie and she were close friends in spurts, but she was spending all of her time with Javier lately. Kate felt bad about ignoring Lanie this summer as well. It's just that Kate hasn't always been comfortable sharing everything with her.

Rick was so far inside her walls, he could get her to reveal anything. While the process was sometimes painful, she always felt better afterwards. He gave her what she needed. And she was finding out she could hang out with him away from work as friends a lot easier than she could with her cop friends.

The danger was falling into the 'friend zone.' If she could occasionally keep his eyes bulging out either by sticking out her chest in a flirtatious manner, by talking about modeling without a stitch, or by showing a little skin, then mission accomplished.

Unconsciously, Rick raised a finger and grazed her bare upper arm, immediately catching her attention. _Oh crap, goosebumps._

"I like how this dress brings out the green in your eyes, Kate."

_Double crap. _He had been calling her Kate more, and normally she didn't mind. She kind of liked it. But normally he wasn't looking at her like that. And then there was that bare skin contact she was worried about.

"Don't get me wrong. I love the softness of your browns, but the flash of green adds a layer of mystery."

He said 'love'. _Triple crap._

There was two ways to handle this. Old Kate would have used an angry glare, but that wasn't really fair. Instead, Kate dipped her head slightly and shot Rick a lustful look, batting her eyes in an exaggerated fashion. This shocked Rick so much that he pulled back his hand as if it had touched a hot stove. Kate laughed and gave him an honest smile. That helped Rick relax, and she was rewarded with his returning grin.

He knew his mouth had run ahead of him. But the look in his eyes let Kate know he understood what she wanted. He was taking the possibility of them seriously, and he wanted to do it right, like she did. He wouldn't rush her.

After ordering their meals (Caesar salad and chicken manicotti for Kate, minestrone and tomato and basil penne with extra meatballs for Rick), they slipped into a more comfortable flow. No invasive questions about their families. They talked about them all of the time anyway. No awkward date questions about favorite places in New York or past relationships. Instead they returned to the topic of work-but not in a workaholic, can't-get-away-from-the-job, way. No griping about paperwork or the Wicked Witch of the West. They simply reminisced about some of their funnier cases and ridiculous suspects. After shootings and near death experiences, remembering the lighter moments was cathartic.

If this were a date-which it absolutely was not-it was turning into a perfect date filled with lots of laughter. She found herself swatting him on the shoulder in a way too flirtatious manner. His wandering hands kept touching her forearm, her wrist, and her elbow. They never lingered long, but every place they touched left a burning heat. She should just grab his hands to keep them still, but hand holding wouldn't be much better as this point.

After a while, Kate's stomach rumbled loudly enough for them both to hear. They were so comfortable with each other, she wasn't embarrassed, and he simply said, "I second that sentiment." A slow kitchen was to be expected on opening night, but their appetizer was long gone (the portion should have been larger), so their soup and salad should have arrived.

They both scanned the room looking for signs of their waiter or their next course. From their vantage point, they could see past the hostess station out to the main lobby. Madison was there, talking to an immaculately groomed older man in a suit with a name tag, presumably the hotel manager. They were soon met by two men in police uniforms.

Beckett grabbed her purse and headed straight for the group. Castle only hesitated to collect her wrap and put it in his coat pocket before rushing to catch up.

Maddie spotted their approach and met them part way. "Kate, I didn't want to interrupt your date. Don't worry about this. As you can see, we've already called the police."

Beckett responded, "It's not a date," a little too harshly. She looked quickly at Castle and saw no flinch from him. He didn't look hurt or resigned, thank goodness. He understood the situation. If anything, he was just as curious about what was going on as she was. Neither of them missed Maddie's eye roll. Kate thought she taught her friend that one in high school.

They joined the two uniforms and the manager, who had moved away from the restaurant entrance to find a little more privacy at the side of the lobby. "What's the situation, Jacobs?" Beckett asked. She recognized Officer Jacobs from the night shift. The other one was a very green looking rookie who, she would guess, had not seen much action.

Jacobs did a double take, his eyes involuntarily scanning her up and down. Beckett noticed Castle stepping closer, protectively. "Detective Beckett! I didn't know they called you."

"The new restaurant is managed by a friend of mine." Beckett looked over to the hotel manager, as she was still waiting for an answer.

"Oh, that explains the… well that explains it," he said awkwardly.

The slender manager, whose name tag said Pierre Thompson, said, "I was telling these officers that one or our housekeeping staff heard a loud bang near where she was working. When she went to investigate, she discovered the door ajar, and…"

"And what?" Castle asked.

"Could you promise to keep this quiet?" the thin man countered. "We don't want to scare the guests."

"No promises. You called us. You need to tell us the problem," Kate firmly answered.

Maddie stepped in to speed it along, "She found a body."

"How long ago?"

"No more than ten minutes," Thompson answered.

Kate turned to the officers, "Jacobs, take your partner…" She looked to the rookie.

"Donald Winston, ma'am,"

"Winston," Kate continued, "and secure the building. No one leaves." The manager looked horrified. "Call for back up and coordinate with hotel security, as I am sure this place has at least half a dozen exits. Keep in mind, however, that hotel security includes possible suspects. Whoever did this is probably gone, but we don't want to later find the primary suspect in the same security footage frame as one of us."

The officers nodded and left to do their jobs.

"Maddie, I know you are busy, but could you make sure the witness is comfortable? We'll have questions for her after the scene has been secured. She can have our food, which should have arrived my now."

"No problem Becks. Thanks again for your help. I'll have them package up a to-go package for you two as well." Madison smiled and walked over to a frightened looking woman from housekeeping who was nervously picking her nails while squirming on one of the lobby's enormous sofas.

"Mr. Thompson. I need you to take me and my partner to the room where the body was found."

The elevator ride was oddly quiet. No elevator music. After a couple of floors, Becket felt the outside of Castle's hand brush up against her own and stay there. His pinky seemed to be slowly curling around hers. Beckett held in a groan. This wasn't time for that-in any way, shape, or form. She snapped him a glare, which he returned with a confused expression. She looked down at their hands and back into his eyes. He realized the problem with surprise, and took a cautious step to the other side of the elevator.

Now at a safe distance, Beckett realized that maybe _she_ was the one who initiated contact and for some reason didn't think of moving her own hand. The misunderstanding was the fault of her own traitorous pinky. This murderous dinner interruption was a Really Good Thing. Her great plan of stalling would have been utterly decimated by the time the "not a date" ended. Maybe Maddie should get one strike back for this interruption. Nah. That would only make sense if she was the one who had actually committed the murder.

Beckett really needed to get a handle on this! Pulling her gun out from the holster under her skirt centered her and helped her focus.

The elevator dinged as it opened on the eighth floor.

"What room?" Beckett asked.

"Room 832, down to the right," the manager pointed down the hall.

"Ok, head back down to the lobby, and give directions to any backup that arrives." Beckett raised her weapon and started down the hallway, Castle a step behind.

"Castle, I can run just fine in these heels, but I'm not sure about this skirt. You're my only backup, so I need you to stay behind me, but with me. I don't have a backup piece for you, but I need you to watch my back. Be ready to do exactly what I say. Can you do that?" They passed room 818.

"Yes."

"Are you focused?" Room 822.

"With a possible murderer roaming the halls, of course. Are _you_ focused?" He sounded serious. He knew she had been distracted for a large part of the evening.

Kate adjusted her grip on her gun. "I am now." Room 826.

Beckett was calm. She trusted him now, more than she ever did before. He had good instinct. Her partner had her back.

They stopped just short of room 832. The door was still ajar. Its flip-over lock bar was extended, preventing the door from shutting completely. Beckett gave a quick scan of both directions of the hall. She whispered, "Remember, no vests. I don't need you walking straight into a shot. Don't be a hero."

"You neither."

Beckett tightened her lips and nodded once. They really should wait for back-up.

"Stay here until I give the all clear."

Castle didn't look happy about that, but gave a short nod in agreement.

Beckett slowly inched the door open, leading with her gun through the growing gap. She was using her shoulder, avoiding the door handle to avoid smearing possible prints. When the door was about a quarter open, she could see the nearby bathroom door was shut and its lights were off. She could also hear someone rummaging deep inside the room. Worried that the door would creak or they would spot her any second, she quickly forced her way through, yelling, "NYPD. Hands in the air!"

The lone man inside quickly leapt to his feet, elbows tucked to his sides, empty hands by his face. The white man was about thirty with brown hair. He was a taller than Castle, and thinner too. He wasn't muscle bound and looked awkward, but he was fit. If it weren't for the dead body at his feet, the open room safe under the desk, his all black outfit, the open air vent above his head, and the gun sitting on the bed, Beckett would never have pegged a guy with that apologetically sheepish smile as a murderer. Instead, there were five clues that clearly pointed to this guy as guilty of murder.

She had Castle call dispatch to relay the all clear to Jacobs. Mr. Thompson would be relieved. Back-up would be arriving in less than ten minutes.

Beckett read the suspect his rights and bound his hands with zip-ties from his own "utility belt." (That's what Castle called it.) For the most part the suspect seemed distracted, as if he was paying attention to something, just not them. Several times he looked like he was just about to say something, before shutting his mouth.

Suddenly he groaned and blurted out, apparently to the room, "Man, she is going to kill me!" He turned to Beckett, and pleaded like only a guilty man could, "This isn't what it looks like. This man was dead when I got here, and I can explain everything."

It would take quite a story to explain away this one. But at least this guy helped Kate out of her near disastrous non-date which was going way too well.

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A/N: Next up: "Yeah, right"


	2. We're Supposed to Believe That Happened?

A/N: Time to end the angst and start the fun.

_Published: 16 Jan 2012_

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**Chapter 2 – We're Supposed to Believe That Happened?**

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"I don't think he did it. It's too easy," Castle asserted as he plopped down into his chair next to Beckett's desk. He set a coffee in front of her, which she greedily took.

After a sip, Beckett resumed writing at her notepad and replied, "Castle, it has to be him. We found him dressed in black tactical gear, standing over the body, breaking into a safe, with a gun at his side."

"But I—"

"Just because I found you over a dead body twice when you didn't do it, doesn't mean this guy is innocent."

Beckett still refused to look in Castle's direction. She wasn't mad at him. No. She refused to look for an entirely different reason. Lately, Kate could barely withstand Rick's 'ruggedly handsome' look without smiling like a love-sick idiot. But after seeing him dressed up last night, and how that non-date almost got out of control, there was only so much she could take.

"But it wasn't the right kind of gun."

Unfortunately, he had a point. The gun on the bed was for some kind of tranquillizer dart. The vic was shot with a 9 mil. That weapon had not been found.

"We think he had an accomplice," Beckett countered, finally looking in his direction.

Castle hair was slightly mussed, making him look like he just rolled out of bed. He probably did as it was not yet 7 AM, early for him, especially on a Saturday. He was wearing a casual, purple button-down and jeans. His shirt was untucked as he has been wearing them recently in a weak effort to hide his thickening midsection. Beckett didn't care he had put on some weight over the past year. It made him more huggable.

_I really should be thinking like that at the precinct. Or anywhere else._

And she hoped he didn't just notice her checking him out.

"I still think he didn't do it. The maid didn't see him."

"So what then? He dropped in from the ceiling to rob the victim at exactly the wrong time?"

Castle shrugged, "Why not? Do we have an ID on the victim?"

Beckett pointed to the murder board across the bullpen by Ryan and Esposito's desks, as she took another sip of her coffee. Before she could get up to walk over there, Castle was behind her chair, rolling it out from the desk. Beckett surged forward to balance herself, thankful her drink had a lid.

"Castle!"

"Feet up!" he replied as he rotated the chair ninety degrees.

Beckett adjusted herself to the back of the seat, and when her feet were slightly raised for an instant, Castle started pushing her around the desk and toward the murder board. Kate grasped the left arm of her chair for dear life while balancing the drink in her right hand. Castle ignored her second cry of protest, so she just held on. At their destination, Castle brought her to an abrupt stop, causing her feet to drop forward as brakes.

"I am perfectly capable of walking, Castle."

"I know, but this was more fun. You should thank me for not making racing car sounds."

"And you should thank me for not shooting you. There aren't any witnesses around this early."

"Nah, you wouldn't shoot the driver. It might've caused an accident. So what do we have?"

Beckett sighed before reviewing the murder board. The timeline was short at one end because they were on the scene so quickly. They still needed the facts leading up to the murder, and those facts were scarce.

"The victim had no ID, but the room was registered under the name 'Merle Robbins' using a credit card issued by Sberbank Rossii."

"He didn't look Russian or like a Merle."

"No, he didn't," Beckett agreed. 'Merle' did not fit the black man. "He might not be the person that registered the room."

"Or it could be a fake ID."

The only hit for Merle Robbins was the inventor of UNO. She wasn't going to tell Castle that though. She didn't need to hear any card game theories. Beckett simply nodded and continued, "The suspect gave the name Charles Carmichael, but did not provide any more information." The picture under the suspect heading was a new mug shot of the man from last night. He had a toothy grin, unusual for a murder suspect. "There are over a hundred people in the US with that name in the DMV database, but none of them match his height or approximate age."

"Another alias. Hmm. Something about him seems familiar."

Beckett tilted her head to the side and closed her eyes. Castle was standing behind her rubbing her shoulders while they were reviewing the details. Tilting her head to the right gave Castle access and tacit permission to move towards her neck. It felt so good. She had a crick in her neck from crashing in the break room last night.

_Wait._

"Castle." Beckett righted her head, trapping his left hand underneath her hair.

"Hmm?"

She leaned forward and rotated to look at her partner, partially pulling free of his magic fingers. "Maybe you should sit in your own chair."

"What?" Realization crossed his face. He hadn't realized what he was doing either. "You're right." He bounced over to a nearby desk and pulled another wheeled chair to a couple feet past the far end of the murder board. He sat dramatically and looked like he was sulking.

Beckett shot him a 'you're being ridiculous' look. "Get over here."

He pushed off and the chair went sliding across the floor, lightly banging into Beckett's. She tightened her lips into an angry frown, but her eyes were still smiling. She used both arms to firmly position Castle's chair to an arm's length away. Close, but a safe distance. "What's gotten in to you this morning?"

"Alexis told me a few weeks ago not to grow up too fast. I'm following her instructions." Castle gave her one of his charming smiles that always made her insides do a flip.

Beckett chuckled. "A little more decorum would be appreciated. Gates will be coming in soon."

Castle straightened in his chair and put his hands in his lap like a good boy. A couple officers from the weekend day shift were starting to arrive, and Ryan called twenty minutes ago saying he was coming back from the hotel with a witness.

"Just how many coffees have you had since you woke?" she asked.

Castle thought for a couple seconds with a single finger across his lips. "Five. No, Six."

"Six! How long have you been up?"

"Oh, twenty-four, twenty-five hours."

"You didn't sleep?"

"Too wired. You managed to sleep?"

"I got a couple hours in the break room. I wanted to get most of my paperwork done so I could enjoy the rest of the weekend. You left here around 11. Why didn't you sleep?"

"I was writing."

"Let me guess. Nikki and Rook go out on a date at a hotel restaurant where there is a murder."

"We were on a date?"

_Oops. _"No. I was talking about our fictional counterparts, not us."

Castle smiled. "I did write about last night, but that was for my witness statement. It's in your inbox."

"At least you did your paperwork for a change."

"Last night's murder didn't fit in the current outline for the next book anyway. But it did get the creative juices flowing. Let's just say they had a 'Nookki' filled evening."

_He spent the night fantasizing about us. I will not blush. I will not blush. Quick. Back to the case. _"You know your witness statements are always too verbose. That's why you should use the forms. They have a limited amount of space."

"I will not let small minded forms limit my talent. Anyway, that's what paper clips are for. The colored ones are good for bracelets, too." Sensing her waning patience, he looked back at the board and asked, "Why does it say 'No Videos'?"

"Security cameras were disabled for a one hour window around the murder. They were re-enabled before we got a look at them, so someone turned them back on."

"The co-conspirator?" Castle asked.

"That's the theory."

"Do we know anything about him?"

Beckett pointed at the big question mark labeled with '2nd Man'. "The canvas of the hotel staff revealed our suspect and a second man, shorter with a beard. He and our suspect arrived during the blackout window, posing as heating and ventilation men—"

"—but our guy didn't have a maintenance uniform—"

"—and we didn't find one. We think—" Beckett continued.

"—the other guy took it." Castle finished.

"The witness is coming in this morning to talk to a sketch artist," Beckett said.

Castle leaned back in contemplation. "You said they arrived during the blackout window. How is that possible?"

"They probably rewound and erased it. The tech guys will look at it, but that probably won't be until Monday." Last night, the uniforms did a great job helping with the canvas to ensure they caught the hotel staff while they were still on shift. However, some things still had to wait.

"Or maybe… Carmichael was telling the truth and the real killer disabled surveillance."

"Or maybe there is a third conspirator," Beckett suggested.

"Nah. He didn't do it."

_Oh, no. _This is going to be one of _those_ cases. She hoped he wasn't going to be right this time. That would mean this case would take all weekend.

"So what's next?" Castle asked.

"I've completed the paperwork for filing charges. He's being taken for arraignment in a couple hours. So far he's waiving right to consul, so I thought we'd take a shot at him before he gets his court appointed attorney. Esposito's bringing him up."

"You called the guys in?"

"Esposito was arguing with Lanie last night when she got the call. I didn't think we needed them, but he called Ryan. They've been here since 6, I think mainly because of their curiosity. Expect some ribbing about picking up a body while on a date."

"It's not the first time."

"It wasn't a date. And what other time are you talking about?"

"That weird cover band… last spring…"

"Oh, I had forgotten all about that. That was in the middle of that..."

"…that thing we're not supposed to talk about."

"How did you remember those morons in the middle of everything else?"

"It ended a memorable afternoon. We need to stop doing that."

Beckett wrinkled her brow. "Doing what?"

"Finding dead people when we are having a great time together."

"Ok. Next time."

Castle raised his eyebrows and smiled. That's when Kate realized she hadn't corrected him about having a great time together. Or about it being a date. But it wasn't one. Not really. Especially if she kept telling herself that.

After a few more minutes reviewing the murder board, Castle received a call from his daughter. She was just checking in before she headed out for the day. Alexis was such a good kid.

The interruption gave Beckett the chance to escape back to the safety of her desk. She resumed outlining her interrogation plan. Castle joined her after his call and made himself look busy while they both waited for Carmichael to be brought in from lock-up.

A little while later, Captain Gates aggressively walked through the bullpen. Not even bothering to stop and exchange pleasantries, she barked, "Beckett, my office!" as she passed.

Castle started to stand to join her, but Beckett halted him with a gentle hand on his shoulder. He was being a good partner offering to join her, but Gates didn't ask for him. Beckett would do this alone. He nodded in agreement to their silent exchange. She knew he'd be there for her when she returned.

She knocked on the captain's door and was greeted with a harsh, "Enter!" She silently stood in front of Gates's desk, waiting for whatever she was so bent out of joint about.

Gates took her time getting settled, unsuccessfully trying to unnerve Beckett. After a minute the captain sat and looked up with her normal cold stare. "I heard you and your friend decided to get in the middle of an investigation during your date last night."

"First, sir, it was not a date. We were at a restaurant opening of an old high school friend of mine who used to date Castle." Not completely true. Maddie and Castle only went to half a dinner together. But that would stop one problem at the pass. "Officers Jacobs and Winston were having trouble with hotel management. My friend helped me take control of the situation."

"Oh, so we're going to have another one of your friends asking to consult on this case."

"No, sir. Maddie just opened the door by calming the manager. She knows to stay out of the way now. However she offered her assistance with the staff if we run into problems, and she did come by with the muffin basket for the precinct."

Gates put down the muffin she had just bit into and swallowed slowly. Point to Beckett.

"Good. Make sure you get a quick confession and get the suspect arraigned as soon as possible. The victim is a foreign national. We want to have the suspect at Rikers before the Feds try to pull jurisdiction."

That's what this was about. This was a power play—something to make Gates look good. Who cares about justice? Part of Beckett was hoping Castle was right and Charles Carmichael was innocent of the murder. He'd still go down for the B&E regardless. She didn't reveal this secret wish and just said, "Yes, sir," as she nodded and left.

Back in the bullpen, Beckett saw Ryan escorting a bearded man into interrogation. Esposito was waiting with Castle at her desk. "You caught the second man?" Beckett asked.

Before Esposito could respond, Castle said, "You know 'the second man' doesn't sound as cool as 'the third man'."

Both Esposito and Beckett gave him a disapproving look. Esposito answered Beckett's question, "Sort of. He accidentally turned himself in."

_Ok, this has to be a good story._ "What happened?"

"Ryan came back with a witness to work with a sketch artist. As they were walking through security they passed Carmichael's lawyer."

"He lawyered up?" Beckett asked.

"No, he came on his own," Esposito continued, "The lawyer, a Michael Carmichael—"

Castle interrupted, "Who would name their kid that?"

"Well, he was having trouble producing credentials, which is why he was stuck at security."

"Another alias," Beckett suggested.

Esposito nodded. "So the witness ID'ed the second man right at our front door. Ryan brought him up and put him in the second interrogation room."

Beckett tightened her lips, stuck between a smile and slight frustration. "Ok, cancel the arraignment."

"Gates is going to be pissed," Castle commented. He must have been eavesdropping again.

"She'll have to get over it. We need to interrogate both so we can formulate the right charges with the DA." Despite the extra work, Beckett found herself slightly satisfied Gates wasn't getting her way.

"Do you want me to run Michael's prints too?" Esposito asked.

"When you have a chance. They aren't going to get done very fast on the weekend anyway. You and Ryan can take a stab at him first. We've got big brother Charles."

Esposito nodded at Beckett's plan and went to join Ryan.

Beckett and Castle walked into the observation room so Beckett could make sure everything was recording. She looked through the window at Charles Carmichael and saw he was mumbling.

"Oh, crap."

"What's he doing? Is he talking to himself?" Castle asked.

"He might be trying to set up an insanity defense. I'm going to have to call for a psych consult before I can question him."

"Didn't he wave his right to consul?"

"If he's crazy, he can't make that decision for himself. I have to go make a call."

Beckett walked out of the room towards her desk, when she saw Ryan and Esposito leaving the other interrogation room.

"You guys are done already?" Beckett challenged.

"We could say the same about you," Ryan replied.

"Our guy's trying the insanity defense."

Esposito said, "Ours too. You should see this."

Beckett and Castle joined the other two detectives in the second observation room. Through the window, Michael Carmichael was chanting over and over, "I'm not going to talk. You'll never make me talk. I'm not going to talk. You'll never make me talk." He was rocking back in forth in rhythm with his words.

After a minute Castle got impatient, "He's got to stop sometime. Right?"

Beckett grimaced. "Maybe he won't talk, but maybe he'll listen. Come on, Castle."

Beckett entered the room with the chanting man and calmly sat down. Castle joined her. After a couple of minutes, she spoke quietly, "You don't have to talk if you don't want to Mr. Carmichael. But you should listen."

Her quiet voice worked. Michael had stopped chanting to listen. Beckett continued, "Thank you. I'm sure continuously talking like that can be tiring, so maybe we can come to an agreement. You say you won't talk, but you came to the station for a reason. If I help you with that, maybe you could help me."

Michael looked defiant, in a sort of overly dramatic kind of way. After setting his jaw for a for a long pause, he finally said, "I came here to talk to Chuck."

Beckett continued her quiet voice, "I'm sorry, but you have been identified as a possible suspect for a murder. I cannot put you in a room with another suspect."

With Michael's promise of not talking broken, he didn't seem to care and started talking freely. "As if Chuck would ever kill anyone. The person you should be worried about is Sarah."

"Are you saying this Sarah committed this murder?"

Morgan's mouth dropped open in disbelief. "No. She wasn't even in the same city. I'm saying YOU need to be worried about Sarah. The last time Chuck was held captive, she torn up half the Thai jungle to rescue him. You know they have stories about the Giant Blonde She-Male because of that."

Castle let out a laugh. "Yeah, I saw that article in _The Onion_, too."

Morgan bobbed his head in agreement. "I know. I used to think those articles were a joke. But after seeing one that I know for a fact is true, I'm rethinking that entire publication."

Beckett sighed as Castle replied, "You mean to say the Giant Blonde She-Male is coming to rescue your brother."

"Yes, unless you let me see him and let us go. Also, she doesn't like the GBSM name, so I wouldn't call her that. It's not that she killed anyone who called her that. Most of them were running away as they shouted it out."

Beckett covered her eyes. This was getting ridiculous. This was supposed to be Ryan and Espo's interrogation. She could just imagine them laughing behind the glass.

Beckett tried to regain control of the discussion, "Your brother is pulling out the insanity card. He's not in a state to talk to anyone."

"What did you do to him? Did you use needles? He doesn't like needles."

"Of course not. He's talking to himself."

"Oh, no. That means she might be coming. We don't have much time. Just let me in to talk to Chuck. You can even listen in through the glass. I'll get him to call off Sarah, and then we'll answer all of your questions and help solve your murder. How does that sound?"

It wasn't normal protocol, but it might work. She looked over at Castle who gave her a 'why not' shrug. She thought about it for a few seconds and then made her decision. "Ok, Michael Carmichael. Let's go see Charles."

As she walked Michael over to the other interrogation room, she noticed Ryan and Esposito running interference with Gates. That almost made up for sticking her with that interrogation. Gates didn't need to know what Beckett was going about to try. She let Michael in with Charles, locked the door, and quickly joined Castle in the observation room.

**CMCMCMCMCMCMCM**

"Chuck!"

"Morgan, what are you doing here?"

"I'm here to rescue you."

"Aren't you a little short for a stormtrooper?"

"Huh? What do you mean?"

"As in Star Wars… Never mind. So what's the plan?"

"Sarah didn't tell you?"

"She's giving me the silent treatment."

"That's better than what she gave me. I got quite the earful. This would have been a lot easier if you just let me use the thing in my noggin."

"Morgan, you still need more training with that."

"I'm tired of training."

"I know, buddy, but we're just looking out for you. We don't want you by yourself in the field when you don't flash properly."

**CBCBCBCBCBCBCBCBCB**

"Did he just imply they're going to break out by flashing everyone?"

Beckett winced, "I'm not sure, but I hope not."

"That's a really dumb plan."

"And I won't want the story getting around to other divisions and precincts."

**CMCMCMCMCMCMCM**

"I've been thinking I need a different word than flash. I'll let you know when I think of something."

"Whatever."

"All I know is you better stay on your woman's good side."

"Of course, she's my wife. You think I haven't learned that by now?"

**CBCBCBCBCBCBCBCBCB**

"This fictional GBSM, a.k.a. Sarah, is Chuck's wife?"

"There is no Giant Blonde She-Male."

"But there is a Sarah."

Beckett groaned. Why did Castle have to go along with every crazy idea?

**CMCMCMCMCMCMCM**

"So what's the plan?"

"Maybe I should hold off for now. We are being monitored." Morgan pointed his thumb to the glass. "Speaking of which… I really like the glass in this interrogation room. It looks new. Maybe we should ask where they bought it and order some for Castle."

Chuck ignored the suggestion, "Well, please tell me the plan before it's my turn to do anything."

"Don't worry. Casey has everything under control."

**CBCBCBCBCBCBCBCBCB**

"What Castle, and who's Casey?"

"I don't know, Castle. Just please refrain from the 'Who's on First?' bit with Casey at the Bat."

**CMCMCMCMCMCMCM**

"What about Ellyas Abshir?"

"Actually, Sarah's working on that part."

"Good."

**CBCBCBCBCBCBCBCBCB**

"Could that be the vic?"

"Probably so." Beckett peaked out the door and saw Ryan walking over. Esposito was still running interference. She quickly told Ryan to look up Ellyas Abshir.

**CMCMCMCMCMCMCM**

"At least I've confirmed you're ok. I never meant to be captured myself. I hope this still works with Casey's escape plan."

"We could try talking our way out."

"You are really good at that, Chuck. Maybe we should try."

**CBCBCBCBCBCBCBCBCB**

"I'm getting tired of them talking about breaking out. Come on, Castle. It's time for our questions."

Beckett and Castle walked into the interrogation room and Michael, a.k.a. Morgan, moved to the other side of the table, joining Chuck.

"We met last night, but I never introduced myself. I'm Detective Kate Beckett. This is Richard Castle. You can cut the escape talk now. We have you on theft, breaking and entering, and conspiracy to escape police custody. We'll soon have you on mur—"

Chuck interrupted, "Excuse me, sorry to interrupt. But did you say Detective Beckett and Richard Castle?"

Oh great, fans. "We don't do autographs for murder suspects."

"What? No. It's just we've met before. Sort of. That's a relief. This is going to be a piece of cake."

Castle, who had been furrowing his brow since he walked in, suddenly snapped his fingers and exclaimed, "I knew I'd seen you before."

Chuck replied, "I don't think so. We've just talked on the phone. I've only been to New York once before."

Castle replied, a little excited, "I know. At my bar, The Old Haunt."

Chuck thought for a second. "I went to a bar with Sarah, but we didn't stay long. I don't remember the name."

Castle was sure of himself now. "You were there with that leggy blonde." Beckett rolled her eyes. Of course that's why Castle knew this guy.

Chuck sent Castle a pointed glare, very different than the common guy persona he had been projecting. "That's my wife you're talking about. Well, she was my fiancée at the time."

Castle's eyes widened. "This Sarah you've been talk about, the Giant Blonde She-Male, is your wife? That makes so much sense."

Chuck held his stare, "She doesn't mind that name, but I do."

"Sorry. I just saw the article in _The Onion_. I meant no offense." Castle turned to Beckett, who had her own glare for her partner. "Chuck here was in my bar last spring with this… Sarah. Some big guys went over to their table to hit on her, even though she was clearly with Chuck. I was expecting it to go sideways, especially with those other people in the bar." Castle gave Beckett a knowing look.

She didn't understand. "What other people?"

"Those military people we aren't supposed to talk about," Castle mumbled.

Chuck heard anyway, "Oh yeah. I flashed on those guys in the back, but everything in their files was redacted. That's part of why we left. We didn't want to get pulled into anything."

Huh? That made no sense, but unless something happened in the bathrooms, 'flashing' didn't mean what they thought it did.

Castle said, "Well I assumed it was because of what happened next. I was about to call the station to have a patrol come by. My place is a cop bar, but for some reason none of the regulars were there."

"They were doing paperwork because of what happened earlier that day," Beckett hinted.

"Makes sense. So I was about to call when suddenly the big guy was on the floor. She took him down with some kind of wrist lock. She didn't even have to stand. Two seconds later, the other two stumbled backwards trying to get away. A few seconds later, all three were gone."

Chuck laughed. "She'd pulled out one of her knives from her thigh holster."

_Oh great, some crazy chick is really going to try to break these two out._

Chuck continued, "This has been a nice trip down memory lane, but that's not what I meant when I said we know each other. We talked on the phone the night before we were at that bar."

Beckett and Castle looked expectantly at Chuck. He simply offered his hand. "Hi! I'm Chuck Bartowski. It's good to meet you in person. This is Morgan Grimes, my best friend and another member of my team at Carmichael Industries. We talked about Lester Patel and Jeff Barnes. You had arrested them for murder, which was really couch lock, and then were later confused because of the name of their creepy stalker van. You called us in the middle of that DEA raid." Realizing neither Beckett nor Castle was going to take his hand, he withdrew it.

Beckett remembered, even though she wished she didn't. Castle's eyes were wide and he was barely holding in a grin of excitement, "You're CIA!"

Beckett interjected, "Wait a second. For all we know you are some mercenary team that occasionally works for the US government."

Chuck said, "That's sort of what we are now. But we like to call it 'Private Spies for Hire.' At the time we were CIA, but we're independent now."

Beckett's frustration was only mounting. "Whatever you are, that doesn't give you the right to murder someone."

"That's ok, because we didn't do it." Chuck sounded honest, but it was hard to get a read on him. Nobody was that happy-go-lucky when talking about spies, bar fights, DEA raids, and murder.

"This sounds like something out of one of your books." Beckett didn't mean to say that out loud.

"Oh, yeah. You're a famous author or something. We're more into comic books. My wife reads up on current events. Casey's more into war histories."

"I did just release my first comic book through Marvel."

Beckett was beside herself. Did Castle really need to be trying to pitch his comic books right now?

"Really? What super powers does the hero have?" Morgan sounded interested.

"No super powers. Derrick Storm is a P.I. from the best-selling novel series I wrote before my current series based on the NYPD and—"

"Ah, we're more into super heroes, post apocalyptic, and cyberpunk stories. And Chuck here is a hard core DC comics guy."

Beckett almost wanted to defend Castle's story. She really liked it. But then remembered this was supposed to be a murder suspect interrogation. "That's nice, boys, but we still have no proof that you used to be CIA, and we still have strong evidence that ties you to this murder. We don't even know your real names."

Chuck put a hand on Morgan's arm to calm his comic book excitement. "Ok. As I said, my real name is Charles Bartowski. This is Morgan Grimes. We both live in Echo Park, California, in the same apartment complex. You can confirm with the DMV. Honestly, I don't know what would happen if you run us by the CIA. We quit when they were trying to fire us. We are on good standing with some people, but not with others."

"What's with the Carmichael name?" Castle asked. "Michael Carmichael is a horrible name."

Chuck gave Morgan an I-told-you-so look. "Charles Carmichael is my professional name. My wife's is Sarah Walker. After taking down a couple of rogue spy organizations and capturing Alexi Volkoff, we thought we should leverage our reputations."

Castle laughed again. "You guys… You two… took down Alexi Volkoff? Number three on the FBI's Most Wanted List? Right."

Chuck shrugged while Morgan grinned.

"Ok, how?"

"It was a team effort. Even my mom helped. But the details are classified. Carmichael and Walker are our professional names, sort of like your professional name is Rick Castle."

"Actually, I legally changed my name to Rick Castle."

"Really? What was it before?"

"Richard Rogers."

"Like the guy who wrote musicals? I see why you changed it." Chuck turned to Beckett. "Well maybe a better example is like your professional name is Kate Beckett."

"Nikki Heat is just a fictional character based on me."

"I know. Well, I didn't know Nikki Heat because haven't read the books. Actually, Nikki Heat sounds like a stripper name." Beckett shot yet another glare at her partner. Chuck continued, "See, that's what I meant. Kate Beckett is you professional name and your real name is Kate Castle."

Castle gulped. Beckett dropped her pen in shock. After taking a moment to recover, "We're not married."

"Really? You fooled me. Morgan?"

"I thought so, too."

Beckett just wanted to go home and curl up in a ball. She prayed Ryan and Esposito were not watching through the glass. She wondered if it would be tampering with evidence if she edited that part out of the interrogation tapes, because this really wasn't much of an interrogation anymore. Honestly, if it weren't for Castle's bar story and the references to the two morons, she wouldn't believe any of this absurdity. Time to get back on track.

"Now that we know who everyone is, could you please tell me why you killed the man in that hotel room?"

"We didn't kill Ellyas Abshir. He's a bad guy—a pirate out of Mogadishu. There are probably a lot of people that want him dead."

Beckett could feel the excitement coming off of Castle. This story already had jungle warriors and the CIA. Why not pirates?

There was a knock at the door. Beckett turned and saw Ryan with a note. He was grinning way more than was appropriate, but he simply handed her the note and left. The note confirmed their identities and included an extremely brief background.

"It says here that Chuck graduated from Stanford recently and you both work at a Buy More in Burbank, California." That was where the strange pair from the cover band Jeffster worked. "It doesn't say anything about the CIA."

"It's our cover job. Actually my wife and I bought the store last May to solidify the cover for our new spy business."

_Who would do that?_ Beckett asked her next question, "Chuck, you graduated from Stanford, but you still work at a Buy More?"

Chuck sighed. "I attended 1999-2003 until I was framed for cheating by my CIA roommate during my last semester. Later, when I was working for the CIA, we found proof I was innocent, the CIA cleared my record, and Stanford gave me credit for my CIA work."

_That's a ridiculous story._

Castle asked for confirmation on one of the ridiculous points, "Your college roommate was also CIA?"

Chuck nodded, "He was recruited our junior year."

"Bryce Larkin, the bastard!" Morgan snarled.

_Wait a sec_. "Did you say Bryce Larkin? From Stanford?" Beckett asked.

"Yes, well originally from Connecticut." Chuck sounded tentative.

"Was he in some sports?"

"Gymnastics and track."

Beckett was working out the years. She was only there one semester in 1998. "Would you remember if he dated a Cindy Brighton?"

"Bryce dated a lot of women. Did she have a really high-pitched laugh?"

"No."

"Wait. She was the one with the purple hair. She was a year ahead of us."

Beckett's mouth dropped in disbelief. "I was only at Stanford a semester, but Cindy was my roommate. She came to visit a couple years later with her boyfriend Bryce."

Morgan interrupted, "Wow, Bryce Larkin did sleep with everyone."

"Excuse me?" Castle bristled.

Chuck jumped in as peacemaker. "My buddy Morgan here didn't mean to imply your… If you're not married, what are you?"

"We're partners," Castle quickly answered.

"Partners? That's ambiguous. That almost sounds worse than when Sarah and I were cover dating pretending to be in love for our friends and family, pretending to be not in love for our bosses, all the while really being in love with each other while fooling ourselves and each other."

The room was quiet while everyone tried to parse what Chuck had very quickly said.

Morgan got there first—or just gave up, "Been practicing that?"

"No, actually, it comes from obsessing about it for a couple of years. Anywho. Morgan didn't mean to imply your partner and Bryce were... Let's just say Bryce just got around and forget what a small world this is."

"He's been dead for two years anyway." Morgan sounded happy about it.

Chuck cleared his throat. "Sorry, officially he has been dead for four years, not two.

_Officially, as in faked his death but died two years later? _Beckett never voiced her question.

"Anyway, we want to get out of here, and you want to catch your murderer, so let's check in with my beautiful wife Sarah and see how that is going."

Chuck stuck his finger in his right ear and started wiggling. Castle and Beckett crinkled their noses in disgust, while Chuck continued digging.

"See, Chuck. I told you it was hard to get out."

"Morgan, they have to be small so people can't see them. Plus, I like it when Sarah pulls it out. She uses her tongue."

"Maybe she could teach that to Alex. Except that won't work because Alex doesn't know I'm still spying. Oh well."

_Too much information._

Chuck dug into his ear for a few more seconds before finally pulling something out. He set it on the table. Beckett and Castle both leaned in. If that was an ear wick, it was the smallest she had ever seen.

"Could I have your phone?" Chuck directed is question at Castle.

"What? Why?" He held up his phone, but didn't hold it out.

"Never mind. A windows phone won't work for what I need. My team has iPhones, so I haven't ported the software to Android or Windows yet. What kind of phone do you have Detective?"

Beckett answered, "I just got an iPhone. Why?"

"I need a speaker so everyone can hear. You can consider this my one phone call."

"How about we just dial the phone?"

"If Sarah is hunting the killer, her phone is off. The ear wick uses our private, secure satellite communication network, which is not part of your cell phone plan. So I'll needed to jailbreak your phone, enable a Bluetooth connection to my two way ear wick, and install a simple app. Don't worry, I'll put everything back when I'm done. I'm actually certified to repair iPhones, so we won't be voiding your warranty."

Beckett wasn't sure. She looked at Castle, and saw he was mesmerized with the technobabble. His eyes pleaded for her to go along with it. It sounded ludicrous, but in for a penny…

Beckett handed over the phone. She watched closely as Chuck's fingers went fast to work. In less than a minute he was rebooting the phone. A minute later he was busy again. Morgan leaned back, reclining and relaxing. Castle was trying to peer around the edge of the phone. A minute later, "Done."

Chuck put the phone in the middle of the table and enabled the speaker phone. They all heard a thudding sound and a metal door sliding closed.

"Hey babe, I have Detective Beckett and Rick Castle here. Is now a good time?"

"Yeah, Chuck. I wasn't really ignoring you, you know. I had to be quiet so I could catch her."

"So you got the person who killed Abshir?"

"Of course. I'll be there soon. Is Detective Beckett there?"

Beckett sat up. "Yes, that's me."

"Good to speak with you again. I've been listening in, and it sounds like you don't completely believe Morgan or my husband. Do I need to wave a lighted cell phone behind a TV camera again?"

_She was listening in? To the interrogation? _Beckett answered, "No. But look at it from my standpoint. Some of what I've heard sounds like fiction and can't be confirmed. A couple years ago, we were almost fooled by a suspect playing a real-life spy entertainment game. If I could confirm your identities from the CIA—"

"That probably won't work. When you arrested Chuck, I was in the middle of breaking into the DNI in DC—"

"Did you do it?" Chuck asked.

"No. I had to quit in the middle so I could fly from DC to New York to help you two out. The Wickerman Prize for breaking into a director-level office when handing in retirement papers is still up for the taking. I had to drop out through a ceiling tile in the main lobby. I handed in my badge and resignation papers to Billy. He said he'd take of everything."

"Who's Billy? Should I be worried?" Chuck had a small smile that showed he was flirting.

Sarah laughed. "Billy's an 87 year old retired spy who was at Yalta. They let him come in and hang out with building security when he's bored. He flirts shamelessly with all of the female agents, but he's a sweetheart and very reliable. So in thirty years, my pension will vest."

"Sorry you didn't get the prize."

"That's ok, except I now owe Zondra a bottle of Scotch. I really just needed to talk to Beckman about our official status and designation. It would help for the exact situation you are in right now."

"Yeah, well, I didn't expect a homicide detective and her 'partner' to be on a date in the same hotel as Ashbir."

_It wasn't a date!_

"So who killed him?" Chuck asked.

"Another ex-Volkoff agent. Hopefully they all just kill each other so we don't have to deal with this very long. Detective Beckett, I'm bringing all of the evidence you'll need, but I wouldn't be surprised if the FBI wants to claim jurisdiction."

"That's nice, but I still have numerous charges to file against Mr. Bartowski and Mr. Grimes. Catching someone who may or may not really be the murderer doesn't clear them of those charges."

"I've got this one, honey," Chuck said. "The building manager signed off on our repairs, so it's not breaking and entering. Morgan actually made repairs, so it's not fraud."

"Seriously?" Castle asked in disbelief.

Morgan shrugged, "I'm a man of many talents."

Chuck resumed, "The room in question was paid for by money embezzled from accounts that Carmichael Industries controls. I've downloaded the money transfer record to this phone so you can confirm that we actually paid for the room. You can't break into your own room."

"How did you download the transfer record? I don't have one of those surf-while-talking plans."

"Right now you're on the Carmichael Industries unlimited minutes plan. We don't have those types of restrictions. I'll switch you back." Chuck reached for the phone.

Sarah spoke up, "I got to go radio silence anyway. See you soon. I love you, Chuck."

"I love you too, babe."

Chuck returned to work on the phone. In less time than before, he handed the phone back to Beckett. "As good as new… ish."

"I can't let you keep that ear wick," Beckett said as Chuck went to put it back in his ear. Chuck simply crushed it between his fingers, leaving a devastated look on Castle's face. Obviously, Chuck wasn't concerned about the cost of such cutting edge technology. Beckett looked to Morgan and held out her hand, "I'm going to need yours as well."

"Detective, if I could get it out, I would. It's really practically in my brain now and is more than a bit uncomfortable." Morgan rubbed his ear in a way that looked like it would only push it further into his skull.

Beckett gave up and went back to her mental list of charges, "What about the burglary?"

"The thing we _reclaimed_ was a classified piece of black market weapons technology which—" Chuck looked to Morgan.

"Yes, Chuck, Casey has already handed the device off to a local NSA agent he trusts to get it the right people."

"So you won't find any record of that device on any customs statements. For all practical purposes, it didn't exist." Chuck smiled. He had all of his bases covered.

Beckett sat there and stared at him. Chuck looked a little sheepish, but held his smile. She turned to Morgan, who gulped but didn't shrink back.

"Fine. I'm still holding you and your plucky side-kick as material witnesses and persons of interest until this information can be corroborated. Wait here, and someone will transfer you both to a holding cell."

Chuck and Morgan both frowned, but didn't complain to her. As Castle and Beckett walked out, she heard Morgan arguing with Chuck about who should be the plucky side-kick now. Outside the room were two uniforms waiting to escort the 'Carmichael brothers' down to holding.

Beckett stomped off to the captain's office. She quickly glanced over at the murder board. It would need to be completely reworked. But first she had to deal with the captain. She motioned for Castle to wait at her desk, which he obediently followed. She didn't need any sarcastic comments from him in this upcoming confrontation, and he seemed to understand that, knowing he wouldn't be able to keep his mouth shut. Beckett knocked on the captain's door.

"Enter." Gates looked up. "Ah, good. Did you get a confession?"

"No. Their story points to a woman who was on the scene before they were." _Here is comes. She's going to push for the arraignment anyway._

"Ok. It doesn't matter. Detective Ryan told me the victim was number 18 on the FBI Most Wanted List, so we're not going to be able to hold onto this case no matter what. Now I need you to pull together all of your notes, evidence, and witness statements so we can quickly hand this off. I'll need a summary report, and then we can contact the FBI and cleanly hand this case and the suspects off to them."

_Figures. She found out she won't get the glory, so she wants to look good to the Feds while getting it out of the way as fast as possible. Who cares if the suspects are innocent and should be released?_

Beckett wouldn't fight it overtly, though. "Yes, sir. I'll work on that report."

"I'm looking forward to it. Dismissed."

_Dismissed? When did this become the military?_

Beckett returned to her desk and saw the frightened look on Castle's face. "What?" she asked him as she slammed a drawer shut.

"I was just trying to figure out what I did wrong."

Beckett realized he misunderstood and thought her determined and angry look was meant for him. Poor guy. She eased his mind with a mischievous and slightly flirty smile. She slapped down her notebook and stood up. "Come on, Castle."

"Where are we going? Do we need our coats?"

"No, we are going downstairs."

"What about the report Gates is looking forward to?"

"You need to stop eavesdropping before you get caught. And as for the report, I'm looking forward to the Harry Potter DVD release, but I still have to wait."

Castle smiled at his defiant partner. "So do I get to see you work out?" His expression dropped. "You're not going to hit me in the sparring ring, are you?"

"Nah, not this time. We're going to the range."

"Why?"

"Because shooting makes me feel better."


	3. What Happened Next

_Published: 26 Jan 2012_

**XXXXXXXX**

**Chapter 3 – What Happened Next**

**XXXXXXXX**

Castle was suspiciously quiet in the elevator. Too quiet.

"What is it, Castle?" Beckett didn't bother looking at him.

"You want to shoot things." He paused. "And you wanted me to come."

Beckett's mouth dropped slightly open, and she looked in surprise at her partner. He was smirking. He was teasing her. So she decided to play along. "Don't worry. I'll give you a running head start."

They both laughed. Castle had figured out the best way to make her relax about Gates. She probably didn't even need to release some tension at the range now. But that didn't mean she wanted to head back to her desk and finish the paperwork quite yet. She might as well have some fun with Castle.

"You don't think they did it. Do you?" Castle asked.

"No. I'm not sure I believe everything they said. They might be ex-CIA and lying through their teeth, but they didn't seem the type."

"Can I say it?"

"What?" She gave him her best I'm-humoring-you-but-don't-push-it stare.

"You hate this case."

She looked at his teasing smile, and she couldn't help but grin back. As elevator doors opened, she gave him a playful backhanded swat in the chest and stepped out first.

When they reached the munitions room, Beckett pulled out her sidearm and placed it on the counter of the window door to the room. Officer O'Brien looked up from his desk and smiled. "Just a minute."

Castle asked, "Do I get to play too?"

Beckett bent over to reach her ankle holster and pulled out her back-up piece. As she stood up—yes. There it was. She caught Castle checking her out. Beckett bit her lip to prevent from smiling. They might not be together because of her 'wall', but she didn't mind him appreciating her, even if he was obvious about it.

"Why do I have to use the pea shooter? Can't I use a real gun like you?"

"Castle, whenever I've given you a weapon, it's been this one. I'd rather you practice with it."

Castle tilted his head to the side, acknowledging she had a point.

O'Brien was at the counter. "Detective Beckett, Castle, good to see you both."

"Hey, O'Brien. I was thinking we could start with three clips each."

"Sounds good. Can't say I'm surprised you're here."

"Why's that?" Beckett asked.

"You mean you do didn't hear? Take a look." O'Brien pointed his thumb over his shoulder at the back wall.

Beckett looked at the three targets mounted on the wall, a sort of leader board for the members of the 12th. Then she noticed hers was missing. The new one had holes only in the 10 ring, with no rips outside. Some of the shots must have been through the center hole. "Wow. Who's the sharpshooter?"

"New guy. A transfer from the 18th that Gates sent down to qualify. You think that's impressive? For his warm up target he did an around-the-world, pinning both shoulder blades, both hips, both ears, and the top of the head."

"What, no smiley face?" Castle quipped.

O'Brien laughed, "No, this guy didn't smile much. The target he took up to Gates matched this one."

"He did that twice?" Beckett was suitably impressed. "What department is he in?

"I'm not sure. He was a little older for still being an officer. I figured he be at least a Sergeant, maybe a Lieutenant. He's a big guy, though, and carried himself like ex-military."

"And his name? I'd like to congratulate him."

"Right, you asked that." O'Brien placed the extra clips on the counter. "His name is John Casey."

Beckett and Castle turned and looked at each other. A sharpshooter… ex-military… named Casey. That couldn't be a coincidence.

They were startled with a ring from Beckett's cell phone. She answered, "Beckett."

It was Ryan. "Hey. I was sent down to evidence to package up everything for an easy hand-off for when the feds come. Only there's a problem."

"Let me guess. Everything's gone." Beckett holstered her back-up piece.

"How did you know?"

"The Carmichaels have another accomplice—John Casey. He's posing as a cop. I need you to head to lock-up and make sure he doesn't try to sign them out. Castle and I are checking the entrance."

After hanging up, Beckett quickly grabbed her sidearm with one hand and pulled Castle's arm with the other. Bypassing the elevator she ran directly to the stairs. It was only two flights. Bursting out of the stairwell, she could already see the commotion at the front entrance.

The focus of the disturbance was actually outside on the sidewalk. Beckett pushed her way through the crowd, with Castle at her heals. A body had been dropped. It was a woman, mid-thirties, with shoulder-length blonde hair. She wasn't dead, just unconscious. She had a bandaged nose that looked broken and was wearing a full body, black, leather cat suit.

"Castle, is that…"

"Couldn't be. While it often feels like she is beating me, I've never seen see her in black leather."

The woman looked like Gina.

Castle pulled out his phone, presumably to call his publisher/ex-wife. Beckett put on some forensic gloves to check out the still breathing body. Upon seeing her, the other officers at the scene had immediately deferred to her and switched to working on crowd control and blocking off the area.

The woman was out cold. She had taken a very effective beating. If Beckett's suspicions were correct, she was unconscious from a tranquilizer dart like what they had found in Chuck Bartowski's gun. Searching through her pockets revealed a Buyzilla-branded green jump drive and a passport. The passport was for Barbara Harper. Kate bagged the evidence just as the ambulance showed up. She gave some quick instructions to a couple of officers to escort Harper to the hospital as a murder suspect. She then walked over to Castle.

"_No. Gina, I'm working. … I'm tired of having this argument with you. … My research with the twelfth is a vital part of my process. … Considering how much better my third book is selling over even the first two bestsellers, I think my readers agree the authenticity helps. … This case has taken an interesting turn and I'm certain it will help with the next book. … Whatever, I'm hanging up now."_

Castle hung up the phone with a grimace. Beckett asked, "This is going to end up in the next book?"

Castle shrugged, "I don't know. Probably not, but the research excuse usually shuts her up. Gina never follows the cases closely enough to know if they get into the books or not."

Beckett tried to hold in her smirk and failed. She knew very few of the cases ended up in the books directly. If Gina knew that, she'd insist Castle spend more time writing and less time as her partner. It had taken a while (plus a big hint from Esposito) for Beckett to realize Castle didn't really need to be around for research. It sounded like Gina was still clueless. That was good because it helped her keep her partner.

Ryan called with news that Chuck and Morgan had never made it to holding. Neither Beckett nor Castle was surprised. They talked to the security guard who confirmed that moments before the body was dropped on the sidewalk, a large uniformed officer escorted a tall thin man and a shorter bearded man out the front door.

After getting a copy of the security footage, they returned to the homicide floor and met up with Esposito and Ryan in one of the conference rooms. Gates joined them after only moments. She was pissed that the 'suspects' were gone. She didn't seem to care that they were likely innocent. She was more concerned about a possible investigation. She left them with a demand for answers.

Gates' tirade had done little to put the team in a good working frame of mind, but Rick's enthusiasm about what 'secrets' might be on the jump drive helped break the tension and get them back on task.

Before Beckett would let him check it out, she insisted on going through the station's security footage. They needed to find out what happened before Gates decided to check back. Meanwhile Ryan left to see if any traffic cameras had footage of the vehicle that dropped off the new murder suspect.

The station's footage was easy enough to go through because they had such a small time window to go on. What they found was surprising. Gates was not going to be happy. Castle was barely containing his glee.

That left the jump drive. For a moment, Beckett wondered if they should let the tech guys check it out first. She went with her gut, which was telling her that despite all of the trouble the "escaped prisoners" had caused, they weren't bad guys and their jump drive wasn't going to cause a problem.

Upon inserting the drive into a laptop, it popped up with an "Installing Drivers" message box. The message soon changed to "Identifying Web Cam", then "Establishing Connection to Satellite". Finally a full screen window opened with a message that read "Waiting for Answer." It wasn't just a jump drive. It was some kind of video calling and satellite networking device. After a moment, the screen changed to…

_Wait. Is this one of those interactive video porn sites?_

The screen was filled long legs, blue boy shorts, and a bare midriff. The woman on screen sat in front of her camera and quickly threw a sheer robe over her matching blue sleeping top. The immodest blonde had a silk night blindfold pushed up to her forehead. She looked like she had just woken up.

Esposito let out a low whistle. Beckett turned to chastise him and saw Castle sitting with his mouth wide open. _Just great. Serena is gone, but here's another blonde._ Beckett reached over and pushed up on Castle's jaw to close his mouth. This startled Castle who jerked his head free and blinked. He looked at her hand, slowly, up her arm, and into her eyes. _Now he's staring at me. Well, I guess that's better._

"Who is it?" the woman on the screen asked. The moment was broken.

Beckett recognized the voice. "Sarah Walker?"

"Yes?"

"This is Detective Beckett, Detective Esposito, and Richard Castle," Beckett answered.

"Ah, sorry. I'd been up for 30 hours straight and I'm a little sore, so you woke me. Just a minute." She turned her head. It looked like she grabbed something and threw it to the side. "Honey, you shouldn't wear headphones when you are expecting a call." She stood and turned, providing a full view of her thighs again. In a softer voice she said, "Hurry up and join me. I could use some company." The microphone was picking up more than she thought. She stepped away, revealing what looked like the inside of a small private jet.

"I was repositioning the satellite, Babe. I don't have that thing in my head to do the heavy lifting anymore. While I still have the pass codes for Space Command, I had to hack into foreign agencies to make sure I could plot a course around their space debris. Don't worry. This won't take as long as that." Chuck Bartowski sat in front of the remote camera with his head still turned to the side. "You should put on more clothes. I know you didn't care when Morgan lived with us, but you kind of freak him out when you walk around like that."

"Morgan's up front trying to convince Casey to let him fly the plane. He thinks he knows how now."

_Thinks he knows how to fly a plane? That doesn't make sense. You either do or you don't._

Chuck said, "Oh, ok. Get settled, and I'll join you for a snuggle once I'm done here." Chuck turned to the camera and grinned. "Hi guys. Long time no see."

Castle spoke first, "If it isn't the Count de Monte Cristo."

Chuck laughed. "Ok, I see the rich escaped prisoner with the beautiful wife, who was betrayed by his best friend. But technically, I won her from him, not the other way around. Also, the only revenge attempt was by this other guy who's in prison now. I sure hope he never gets free. That would be bad. Really bad. For everyone. Especially me. And there's no unknown baby who's all grown up… that I know of."

Castle said, "At least you're literary."

Chuck scoffed, "I told you earlier—comic book guy. I was thinking of the movie from a few years ago. It has sword fights, although I prefer the light saber and samurai variety. It also had the guy who played Chess from The Cape. You know, a comic book character. I mainly watched it as research because of the two years I thought I might end up in an underground bunker for the rest of my life."

_Underground bunker? He has to be making this up._

"Anyway, my new wife is waiting, so let's finish this."

"You're in serious trouble, Mr. Bartowski," Beckett started.

"Come on, you can call me Chuck."

"You fled police custody—"

"If you've gone through your security camera footage, you know that was not what happened."

He had a point. Beckett continued, "You stole evidence—"

"My company's CWO signed for that."

Castle interrupted, "CWO?"

"Chief Weapons Officer. I wanted to go with Chief Operating Officer, but Casey picked his title."

Beckett tried to reassert control, "You are leaving the jurisdiction while you're a person of interest—"

"First, I know the 'don't leave town' thing is not enforceable without a warrant or formal charges. Also, I can't help it that you haven't finished your paperwork to change my status. We have to get back to LA for a job tomorrow. Some bad guy with tight security and a platoon of mercenaries stole a microchip and hid it in a Ming vase. We've been hired to recover it. The mission is time sensitive, so we didn't have time to wait around in New York."

"You dumped an unconscious body on the curb."

"It was a citizen's arrest. We would have taken her to the local FBI office if we had the time. But the New York office doesn't know us like the LA one does. It would've taken too long to explain everything. Plus we figured you'd like to close your case."

He paused, typing something on his computer. "While we've been talking, I've been sending you all of the evidence needed to prosecute. There's the missing hotel video footage showing her breaking into the room. There's satellite footage showing her escaping on the roof. There's additional footage showing her dumping the gun in dumpster in an alley near 76th and Lex. You should probably send someone there to dig it out. After helping find my sister's engagement ring, Sarah refuses to go dumpster diving again. Speaking of my bad-ass ninja wife, there's also an exciting clip of Sarah taking her down. It didn't take long. Finally, I've included an itemized bill for our services. It includes the normal stuff: munitions charges, hourly rates, travel costs, and catering costs. There's also a special charge for being held at gunpoint. The good news is we've decided to waive the charges under the condition that you turn Harper over to the FBI, giving credit to Carmichael Industries. There's a small reward for her and a large reward for Abshir—although that would have been larger if she hadn't killed him. But the two bounties together, plus the reward for the tech we recovered, should barely cover our expenses. Unfortunately, we'll probably never get back the money Abshir embezzled."

Beckett tried to wrap her head around it. This was not going to be fun to explain to Gates. Especially considering her role in it.

Chuck added, "Oh, and as a bonus, there's a sequence of videos showing her working with Alexi Volkoff to knock out and hold Jeff and Lester hostage, capture and hold Casey and Morgan, and threaten to blow up the Buy More with a bomb."

"Are you saying this Barbara Harper was responsible for blowing up the Burbank Buy More?"

"No. That was earlier. The man responsible is in prison now. This was a second time it was almost blown up in less than a year. This time it was a standoff trying to get to my mom, who Volkoff thought was being held captive by me… You know what? It's not important. With the footage, DHS and the FBI should be able to hold her as a terrorist. Let's see… The file transfers are complete, so I'm signing off to spend some quality time with my wife. Hopefully, a misunderstanding like this won't happen again. Bye bye." Chuck hung up.

Castle, of course, couldn't refrain himself. "Guess who's about to join the mile high club?"

Esposito replied, "Did you see his wife? He's already a frequently flyer in that club."

Beckett scrunched her face in disgust. "Guys, you realize that ex-CIA agent could probably kick both of your asses with one hand tied behind her back. You might not want to talk to her that way. Her husband might have bugged this room."

Properly chastised and looking thoughtful, Esposito asked, "Did he say the pilot's name was Casey?"

"Yes."

"And he was a sharpshooter?"

"Yes. His target knocked mine off the leaderboard."

"His name wasn't _John_ Casey, was it?"

"Yes. Where are you going with this, Espo?"

"Oh crap. I've heard a lot of stories about him. Black ops. He's known as 'The Colonel.' He's considered one of the top five sharpshooters in the world. A couple years ago, he took out one of the other five in a building-to-building shot through two windows, from a half mile away, while the target was holding his partner with a gun to her head. No wonder they got out so easily. The way my buddy in Afghanistan talked about him, he bleeds red, white, and blue. I didn't know he retired."

Castle said, "Well it seems like Chuck is his boss. Maybe we were lucky these people were nice enough to explain what was going on. It sounds like Chuck could have escaped last night, leaving us still looking for clues."

After a pause, Castle changed the subject, "So when do we get to tell Gates?" He sounded like he was actually looking forward to it. Of course he was.

They looked out to the bullpen and at the door they were surprised to see a tall man wearing what looked like a government-issued black suit.

"Detective Beckett, you need to come with me to your captain's office." The stiff fed couldn't sound any more monotone if he tried.

Beckett turned to Esposito as she stood and told him to make copies of the evidence files and to send a team of uniforms to go dumpster diving. She also told him to update Ryan on the case, as it looked like traffic camera footage was unnecessary at this point. As she moved to leave, Castle stood to join her. She was just about to stop him when—

"I'm not sitting out of this one, partner." Beckett wasn't going to stop him this time. She titled her head giving him silent permission to follow.

At Gates' office, their escort stopped to stand with another sentinel just outside. Inside, they joined another government suit standing in front of Captain Gates, who was sitting behind her desk.

The captain started, "I didn't ask for Cas—"

The man interrupted, "Where is he?"

"Excuse me?" Beckett reacted to the accusatory question.

"Where is Chuck Bartowski?"

"I'm sorry. You didn't know he is no longer in police custody?" She looked to Gates, surprised that important information had not been revealed.

"You no longer have him?" The man was fuming.

"We have the woman who we believed committed the crime. We have a comprehensive collection of evidence that ties her to this murder as well as possible kidnapping and terrorism charges. Right now, a team is going to collect the last piece of evidence, the murder weapon. Our background search of Mr. Bartowski revealed no outstanding warrants. Do you have a new warrant?"

"What? No. I've just come to collect him."

"Well even if we had him, which we don't, we couldn't hand him over without a federal warrant. If you would like to take Barbara Harper, our murder suspect, you could use the existing warrants to take her. She is currently at New York Presbyterian receiving treatment. That's assuming you are with a federal law enforcement agency, Agent…"

The man ignored her leading inquiry to his name. "Why would I want that mess? This was a waste of time." The man stomped off with the other two falling into step behind him. They could hear his ongoing tirade about the incompetence of the NYPD as he walked through the bullpen.

Beckett looked at the captain, "Excuse me, sir, but who the hell was that? How did he even know we had Bartowski?"

"That was exactly the kind of trouble I wanted to avoid." Beckett noticed Gates didn't answer her question. Did she even know? "So what have you found about how this Bartowski character escaped."

"Well, sir, we confirmed that Chuck Bartowski and Morgan Grimes walked out the front door with the fourth member of their team, a retired Colonel John Casey."

"John Casey? That's the name of the new officer who transferred from the 18th."

"Colonel Casey was posing as NYPD. After you sent him down for is weapons qualification, in which he broke precinct records by the way, he checked out the evidence we collected from Bartowski last night. Then he waited with Officer Raines to help with the transfer from interrogation to holding. Right as they started off, Officer Raines was called away, leaving Casey alone with Bartowski and Grimes. They took the elevator and walked out the front door. There they were met with the team's fourth member, recently retired CIA Agent Sarah Walker, Bartowski's wife. She dropped off our new suspect, Barbara Harper. Harper is under guard at New York Pres. Right before coming in here, we had a video conversation with Bartowski from his private plane. He transferred enough evidence to nail her for murder, or to hand her over to DHS for terrorism charges."

Gates was quiet for several seconds. Beckett had left out the part about why Raines was called away. Gates knew why. She was the one who called Raines away and left the escapees alone with their rescuer. To make matters worse, she had signed off on the rescuer's weapons qual.

"I see." Gates was quiet again for a moment. Then, "Ok, we'll contact the FBI and have them take over security at the hospital. We don't need to be wasting resources on that."

"Yes, sir."

Gates didn't say anything else. It seemed like the jailbreak wasn't as important once Gates realized the security hole that let it happen. Recognizing the captain was done, Beckett and Castle left.

Beckett rolled her lips trying her hardest not to laugh. She needed to finish up this case quickly so she could have a full belly break-down in private, where should wouldn't get busted by Gates. Castle reached out and grabbed her arm, halting her.

"What, Castle?"

He nodded to the break room. Just inside was none other than Castle's guy in the CIA, Agent Gray.

They quietly changed their course and walked over to the break room.

"Agent Gray."

"Castle. Detective."

"Tell me you're not here looking for Chuck Bartowski," Beckett pleaded.

"No. But I'm here because of Bartowski and Agent Decker."

Beckett wondered if everyone in the CIA knew more about this case than she did. "So can you explain what is going on? And who was that Agent Decker? Is he also CIA?"

"Everything I am about to say is completely off the record." He paused, making sure Beckett and Castle were taking him seriously. "You've fallen into the middle of a turf war. Carmichael, Walker, and Casey were part of a special joint agency project that operated domestically and internationally. Over the past few years their team had one of the best runs ever for a team of agents. It attracted notice of the President. They captured several high profile targets, prevented a couple of terrorism attacks, and stopped a couple of illegal internal agency power grabs. Then something happened a couple months ago. The details are scarce. All I know for certain is afterwards, the joint task force was dissolved and the agents went private sector. The rumor is that someone targeted Walker, and Carmichael went rogue to save her."

"A rogue agent. A team of rogue agents. How cool is that?" Castle was eating this story up.

"Presumably because of their glowing record, certain people at high levels decided to let it pass."

Beckett said, "Let me guess. This agent is not one of those who did."

"No he wasn't. But that's probably not even the issue. Agent Decker is not a team player himself. He regularly breaks the rules, and is one of the most lethal agents we have. I wouldn't want to guess his motives. I would suggest that if he comes back, you give him a wide berth. He's not someone you want as an enemy."

Castle said, "It sure sounded like Chuck is his enemy. We appreciate the warning."

"I wouldn't want the paperwork," Gray said with a straight face. It took everything in Beckett for her not to laugh. He continued, "I've dispatched several agents to take Harper into custody at the hospital. One of my associates should be emailing you the appropriate warrants and transfer papers. I've taken possession of the jump drive. This case will be out of your hands in an hour—like it never happened."

Beckett thanked the Agent, and the partners turned to leave.

At the exit to the room, Castle snapped his fingers and spun to address Gray, "We got a bill from Carmichael Industries. They said they would waive the charges as long as we gave them bounty credit for Harper and Abshir."

"I'll pass that along, but they will probably have to fight with Accounting themselves. That's not my department."

Agent Gray made a quick and silent exit, this time without the magician's trick. Beckett quickly walked over to Esposito and Ryan at their desks. After updating them, Esposito offered to stay and wait for the transfer orders to come in. Beckett thanked him and then told Ryan to head home. Then she walked over to Castle, who was patiently waiting in his chair by her desk.

Bypassing him to grab her coat, she said, "Are you coming, Castle?"

Castle bounced out of his chair to help her with her coat. It was a thing that he had started recently. She might not be ready yet, but she had no problem with these little signs of gentlemanly affection.

"Where are we going?" he asked.

"I thought we'd see if we could actually finish a meal together without murder getting in the way," she answered.

"That's a worthwhile experiment. It might even require repeated trials."

"I'll admit there's a strong possibility that will be necessary." She linked her arm through his as they walked to the elevator. This is was another thing she decided was safe. It was comfortable. It was reassuring. She was going to let something simple… like walking arm in arm… happen. And if she had anything to say about it, it was going to keep happening.

"Well let's get out of here before something else happens."

**XXXXXXXX**

A/N: That's it for this one. Thanks for staying with this story and the entire 'This Happened' series.

I was probably picking on Gates too much. But I'll probably do that until she shows herself to be a good leader… a leader who earns respect rather than demanding it… a leader who inspires her team to do better rather than avoid her… someone who cares more about the victims and justice than her own image. In other words, someone like Beckett.


End file.
